Transcript: 135. The Farm Gate Shooting of Scott Guy | New Zealand

You are listening to: The Evidence Locker.

Our cases have been researched using open source and archive materials. It deals with true crimes and real people. Some parts are graphic in nature and listener discretion is advised. Each episode is produced with the utmost respect to the victims, their families and loved ones.

It was still dark at 7am on the morning of July 8th, 2010, when truck driver David Berry set off for a day’s work, driving livestock to the freezing works. As Dave got into his truck, he noticed a car with its headlights on at his neighbour’s gate. It was unusual, as he knew Scott Guy from next door was usually out earlier to work in the milk shed on his family farm.

Dave pulled his truck out of the drive and drove past the farmgate at 293 Aorangi Road, and saw Scott’s Hilux at the gate, engine idling. He could not see Scott and carried on along his way. Then something caught his eye: he saw two shoes, below the glare of the headlights. When he realised it was Scott lying in front of his vehicle, Dave brought his truck to a screeching halt.

He stopped and ran closer, calling Scott’s name, but there was no reply. Then he saw the true horror of the scene: 31-year-old Scott’s neck and face were covered in blood. His body was limp and pale and when Dave touched him, he was cold. He knew Scott was no longer alive and called emergency services.

Scott was a well-loved husband, father, son and brother – and his brutal killing made no sense whatsoever. The investigation into his death exposed dark secrets, enough to tear a family apart. The trial unfolded in front of the entire country, and people watched as the respected Guy family came to terms with lies, deception, hatred and envy that had been brewing among them for years. In the end it proved that blood was indeed thicker than water…

>> Intro Music

Scott Grahame Guy was born on the 21st of December 1978 to parent s Bryan and Jo. He grew up on his family farm, Byreburn, near Feilding, Manawatū-Whanganui, New Zealand. As a kid, Scott was a typical farm boy, who loved being outdoors and playing sports. With his million-dollar smile and piercing blue eyes, he’d always brighten everyone’s day.

Scott was one of four children: his sister Nikki was only one year older than him, then there was Anna who was two years younger and Cullum, who was five years younger than Anna. Bryan and Jo always kept their children close and hoped that their farm would stay in the family one day.

The Guy family was well-known and respected in the small-town community of Feilding. All the children excelled at school in Feilding: in one year Nikki was school president, Scott was house captain and Anna starred as Tallulah in the school’s rendition of the musical Bugsy Malone. Scott was popular, and people who went to school remember him as being an all- round ‘nice guy’.

Even though he did quite well at school, Scott was never interested in academic work. From a young age he always dressed up like a cowboy and dreamed of one day becoming one. He left high school in Feilding to go to Taratahi Agricultural School in Masterton, about an hour and a half south of his hometown.

While in Masterton, he met a girl and they dated for quite a while. When she wanted to move to Wellington, he joined her. But Scott never quite fit into city life. His mom recalled him being broke and asking for a job on the farm, and they were only too happy to have him back. When he returned, he did a couple of odd jobs, but never seemed too serious about the routine life of a farmer.

His parents knew he was still young and had to find his feet, so when Scott said he wanted to study agriculture at Massey University in the nearby city of Palmerston North, they encouraged him. At this time, Scott lived on the family farm in a cottage with his sister, Anna’s boyfriend, Ewen Macdonald.

Ewen had dropped out of school at the age of 16 to start working at Byreburn full-time. He was Anna guy’s high school boyfriend, and the Guy family took him in as their own son. Ewen, he said he was drawn in by the loving and supporting family who went to church together and enjoyed sharing time over Sunday lunch. it was obvious to everyone who knew Anna and Ewen that they would end up together.

Ewen and Scott got on well and even played in the same rugby team, the Feilding Yellows. They were quite different personalities: Scott was more outgoing and gregarious while Ewen was more reserved and serious. When Ewen wanted to propose to Anna, he told Scott about it first. Scott gave his blessing and said:

“You’ve been hanging around long enough. You’re made for each other.”

When they got married, Scott was one of Ewen’s best men. Anna and Ewen settled into a cottage on the farm and started their family. Ewen ran the dairy operation and worked well together with the rest of the family – he had a lot of respect for Anna’s dad, Bryan.

Although his younger sister was settling down, Scott wasn’t quite ready for that kind of commitment yet. With his diploma from Massey University in hand, he travelled across the Tasman to spend some time in Australia, working on farms in the outback. He mustered cattle on horseback, fulfilling a lifelong dream of becoming a cowboy. Scott forged strong bonds with his Australian crew – they called themselves Team Delta and they all had the name tattooed on their backs.

When Scott returned to New Zealand in 2003, he always spoke fondly about his time in Australia – everyone knew that his time there was very significant to him. At that time, things at Byreburn were running smoothly, under Ewen’s good management. He was a dedicated farmer and husband and him and Anna had four children. Byreburn was mainly a dairy farm, and Scott did not see himself milking cows for a living.

When a farm job came up in Hawke’s Bay, Scott jumped at the opportunity to try something new. During his time in Napier, Scott followed to Rodeo and impressed crowds with his bull riding skills. He even made a brief appearance on a TV show, who called him a daredevil.

After one of these Rodeos in 2003, Scott met the beautiful dark-haired, blue eyed Kylee Bullock in a bar. Kylee was 18 years old and studying to be an early childhood teacher. They had an instant connection and from the moment they started dating, they were inseparable. People who knew the couple thought they were a perfect match: they absolutely adored each other, leaving love notes for the other one to find and spending as much time together as possible.

Then Scott’s contract in Napier came to an end, and he had to return to his family farm in Feilding. Kylee visited Scott on weekends, and sometimes he went up to Hawke’s Bay. But before long, Scott decided he did not want to say goodbye every Sunday anymore. Scott asked Kylee to marry him, and she didn’t even have to think about it: it was a definite yes.

Kylee moved to Feilding, living with Scott in his family home for a while. Kylee missed her family and friends in Hawke’s Bay and the constant rain in Manawatu brought her down. It was a big adjustment for her, but Scott made it worth her while. She had never been so happy in a relationship before and knew it would only be matter of time until Byreburn felt like her home too.

In January 2005, Scott and Kylee got married and the newlyweds lived in their own cottage on the family farm. They hoped to build a new home at some point in the future. Their baby boy, Hunter, was born in April 2008. They were a quiet, country couple who loved spending time together at home. Kylee was a keen baker and Scott loved her creations.

Scott was an amazing dad and husband. After his morning chores, he’d come home, and Kylee would have breakfast ready. He played with Hunter or took him along as he went around the farm and theirs was the kind of idyllic family life most people dream of.

By 2010, a more settled Scott had become more involved with the farm work. Together with his brother-in-law, Ewan, he managed Byreburn. The extensive property located along Aorangi Road a short distance outside of Feilding was a profitable farm, that had been in the family for 90 years. Scott’s grandfather still owned 50% but was no longer involved on the operational side of things. There was no doubt as to who ran the business, Bryan Guy was in charge. As a tongue-in-cheek joke, his personalised license plate was ‘BossMan’.

Scott and Ewen both answered to Bryan, and they each had their specified roles. It was Scott’s responsibility to grow crops, feed the livestock and raise calves. Ewen was still in charge of the dairy operation, something Scott never took much interest in. From the outside in, it looked like the brothers-in-law had a great working relationship. Bryan knew he had two head-strong managers and kept a close eye on them.

Ewen always felt like the outsider and didn’t feel he could speak openly to Bryan about his concerns regarding Scott’s work ethic. Ewen had mentioned to Anna that he did not feel Scott was doing as much as he was on the farm. Scott also spent a lot of time with Kylee and Hunter, while Ewen was out doing all the work.

In 2008, the Guy family got together for a family meeting. Scott’s parents, Bryan and Jo, informed their children and their spouses that they would all inherit equal shares of the farm. Scott who had just become a father for the first time, was not happy with this and listed his own demands. He felt that he was more than just a farm manager, he was the eldest son, and the farm was his due. Scott’s point of view brought a lot of tension between Scott and Ewen, who had been good friends for years.

By this time, Ewen had been working on the farm continuously since he was 16. During that time, Scott came and went as he pleased. Scott was able to chase his dreams and followed his heart, while Ewen was the one who put in the hours, the weeks, the years… Scott was also clear that he didn’t want to live in Feilding forever. He and Kylee had plans to one day buy a small farm of their own in in Hawke’s Bay. So, when Scott wanted to claim the family farm, everyone was caught off-guard.

But to Scott, it wasn’t unreasonable. For years, his parents lived in the large homestead. The very same house where Scott and his three siblings grew up. But Bryan and Jo offered to move out so Ewen and Anna could live in the bigger house with their four children. This angered Scott, because all four siblings had an emotional connection to the house. He did not feel it was fair that Anna and her husband got to live in it. But the decision had been made and Bryan and Jo moved into the town of Feilding, while Anna, Ewen and their kids moved into the farmhouse.

As for the rest of the farm, Bryan and Jo and stuck to their promise to divide their share of the farm equally between their four children and their spouses. Bryan’s father still owned fifty per cent, Bryan and Jo retained thirty and together, all the Guy children owned 400 shares, adding up to twenty per cent.

Bryan took Scott aside and tried to reason with his son. He explained that, if Scott wanted to own the farm, he had to buy out his siblings. Bryan felt that Scott understood that it was only fair and that his attitude changed after their heart-to-heart. According to Bryan, the year after the shares were transferred was a good year – everyone seemed to get on just fine. He had assumed they had put their differences aside.

Bryan had also heard about Ewen’s concerns via Anna, he pulled Scott into the morning roster at the dairy, to even things up a bit. Ewen would also have weekends off and Bryan made sure the two of them received equal pay. Both young men had a steady income of about 100,000 New Zealand dollar a year.

Scott and Kylee sold an old demountable home, to make space for their new house. The old house had been loaded up and was ready to be moved the next day, when someone set it on fire. The entire house it burnt down. Scott and Kylee had counted on the money, about $8,000, and were devastated to see it all lying in ashes.

However, over time, they saved enough and began construction on their house, at the same location. The structure was in place, and the plasterer was due to come in for some finishing touches before they could do the interior, when they experienced another setback. Vandals bashed the walls and plumbing and had graffitied profanities on the walls. Kylee, who was pregnant with their second child, was ready to pack it in and pleaded with Scott to move to her hometown in Hawke’s Bay. But Scott appeased her and convinced her to stay on Byreburn for the time being – at least till their baby was born.

For a while, things calmed down and the couple enjoyed their little bubble with Hunter and preparing for their second little boy, who they decided they would call Drover. In June 2010, Scott and Ewen took a trip to Invercargill together to attend a farming conference. According to Scott’s sister, Nikki, the brothers-in-law had ‘a fantastic time’. Kylee also said that when Scott came home after the trip, he was upbeat. He said that Ewen had opened up to him and they had sorted through their issues.

Anna also saw a difference in Ewen. He was positive and didn’t complain that much. He enjoyed having more time with her and the kids, and they seemed to have struck a balance at last.

Until an unspeakable tragedy changed everything…

In the pre-dawn hours of Thursday the 8th of July 2010, Scott woke up early to start his day. He got dressed on the other side of the house, because he didn’t want to wake up Kylee and Hunter. Then he made himself a cup of coffee and drank it while he logged onto his computer to check his emails and Facebook. At 4:41, he logged off and left.

In his Silver Hilux Pickup truck, or ute, he picked a song on his iPod and headed off to the dairy. But something wasn’t right… The gate leading onto Aorangi Road was closed. They only did that when they were moving livestock – and even then, he’d be the one to close it. For the most part, the gate was always open. Somewhat confused, Scott stopped and got out. He opened the one side of the gate, which scraped on the surface, as it wasn’t used that much. Then he went back to open the other side. He would not have seen his assailant hiding in the shadows. One, two, three shouts blasted into his neck and face and Scott dropped backwards, in front of his car.

At the dairy, everyone wondered why Scott didn’t show up. He was supposed to clock in at 4:50, so when he wasn’t there by 5:03, Ewen sent a text, asking: Are you up? No reply came, and farmhand Simon Asplin heard Ewen cussing under his breath: ‘Sleeping Beauty strikes again.’ This was not extremely unusual, as Scott sometimes ran late. And it was also not unusual for Ewan to be bitter about it. By 5:40, Ewen tried to call Scott, but it went to voicemail. It was a busy morning and 300 cows needed milking, so Ewen gave up on Scott and decided he would deal with him later.

Two hours after Scott was shot, his neighbour Dave Berry found him. When Dave got out of his truck, he could see that Scott was deceased. Yet, hoping there was a chance his neighbour was still alive, Dave felt for a pulse, but there was nothing. At 7:08am, Dave called 111, and in the shock and confusion of the situation, said that Scott’s throat had been slit.

While he waited for emergency services, Dave called his landlord, Bruce Johnstone, whose house was only a couple of yards away. Bruce arrived on his quad bike within minutes, and when he saw the shooting victim was Scott, he called Ewen Macdonald. He knew both of them well and thought of everyone in the Guy family, Ewen was probably the best person to contact at that time.

Two police cars arrived, and a distressed Bruce met them with the words:

“He’s dead, he’s dead.”

As the two officers tried to take in their initial impressions of the scene, Ewen drove up on his quadbike. He was in his overalls and gumboots and had clearly come straight from the milk shed. He was emotional and confused and wanted to know what had happened. No one knew, but with the day dawning, they would not be able to keep it quiet for long.

Ewen made the call no one ever wants to make: to tell a parent that their child had died. Ewen reached Bryan Guy at 7:21, who was at his home in Feilding town, but he could barely speak. The short, incoherent conversation only lasted 22 seconds, and all Bryan heard was…

“Something’s happened to Scott… His face… You’d better get out here.”

Inside Scott’s house, Kylee had just woken up and was watching TV with Hunter in bed when she heard the hum of four wheelers. Hunter thought that Scott had come home and said: Daddy, bike!” Kylee looked out the window and saw the police vehicles down at their gate. She grabbed a coat and, with Hunter on her hip, she ran outside to see what was going on. A police officer ran towards her stopped her, before she could see her husband’s bloodied body. He said that there had been an accident and ordered her to go inside. A heavily pregnant Kylee, concerned about Hunter, took him back into the house, hoping and praying that whatever was going on, was not about Scott. But instinctively she knew it was bad. She sat inside crying and tried to keep Hunter calm.

When Scott’s older sister, Nikki arrived at the scene, Dave Berry told her that Scott had been stabbed, but Ewen corrected him, saying he had been shot. It was a strange conversation and Nikki wondered how either of them would know HOW Scott had died. She thought Dave was probably right, seeing as he was first on the scene.

Back in the main farmhouse, Anna was helping her young children to get dressed when she heard a loud banging on the front door. It was Nikki. Ewen had been out at the crime scene all morning. He had informed Scott’s parents and some friends, he was concerned about Kylee and Hunter’s safety, yet he had not told his wife that her brother had died. Everyone congregated at Anna and Ewen’s house and the day was filled with tears, chaos and confusion.

A strange element to Scott’s murder was that three chocolate Labrador puppies also went missing. Bryan had asked Ewen to carry on with essential farming jobs for the day, seeing as some things could not wait. One of those chores was to feed the litter of puppies in an old woodshed next to Scott and Kylee’s house. When he discovered some of them were gone, he alerted police, thinking it could have something to do with Scott’s murder.

In the days that followed, the family struggled to come to terms with Scott’s death. There was a feeling of disbelief – how could this have happened? The murder made national news and it gripped the imagination of the entire country. More than a thousand people attended Scott’s funeral in Feilding. His Australian outback crew of drovers carried his coffin into the church, and his siblings, Ewen, Kylee and her two sisters carried it out. Scott was just a down-to-earth country guy with a wife, a toddler and another one on the way. Who was the monster who would want him dead?

A seven-month pregnant Kylee addressed the media, with two-year-old Hunter, sporting a cowboy hat like his dad’s, on her lap, pleading for anyone with information to come forward.

Police believed the shooting occurred sometime between 4:43 and 5am. Scott lay at the gate, his car still idling, lights on, for two whole hours. A post-mortem examination found that the first shot hit him in the throat, shattering his voice box. A second shot struck him as he was falling backwards, raising his hand to cover his face. It was not impossible that a third shot was fired. The assailant was close-by, only three or four metres away. Yet there were no defensive wounds or signs of a struggle. Scott did not his attacker in the glare of the headlights. He was ambushed and did not stand a chance. It was clear that the person who killed Scott, did not mean to scare him or warn him, this was an intentional kill.

Police searched the immediate area at the murder scene but could not find any strong leads. The weapon used was most likely a shotgun, but they could not say that with certainty. On that day, the farm shotgun was not locked away. Bryan Guy said that it was broken down, taken apart into three pieces, but not in the safe where he usually kept it. Because it wasn’t it a secure place, Bryan did not inform police that there was a shotgun on the farm, something he would later regret.

Four neighbours claimed to have heard gunshots in the pre-dawn hours. Kylee, who was the closet to the scene, didn’t hear anything. She said that being pregnant, she slept deeper than she usually did.

The most compelling evidence was a sequence of unique footprints. The pattern did not match the shoes Scott was wearing, nor any of the people who first found him. The prints were next to the fence, so close, not where anyone ever walked. It looked like the spot where the killer laid in wait. Then the prints walked up to Scott’s body, where the assailant stood over him, confirming that his victim was no longer alive. Prints with the same pattern were also found at the woodshed where the puppies were taken from. Forensic testing proved that the print was made by a size 9 Proline diving boot.

Initially the investigation looked at three possible types of assailants – firstly, could it have been someone known to Scott, like a family member, a friend or a co-worker? Secondly, they could not exclude the possibility that it was a random killing. In the time leading up to Scott’s murder, there had been a bout of burglary in the Feilding-area – and with three valuable puppies taken from the property, could it have been connected? Lastly, investigators had to keep an open mind and look at general persons of interest.

When a murder is committed in a small town, rumours are bound to do the rounds. Police investigated insinuations about extra-marital affairs, but that was a dead end. Scott and Kylee were as happy together as two people could get. Another story went around that there was a patch of cannabis on the farm that had been pulled out. Police searched the entire property and found no evidence supporting these stories.

The initial ‘persons-of-interest list’ had no less than 60 names on it. One by one, people were crossed off. Once police had exhausted their list, they still felt that someone close to Scott knew something. The incidents that occurred before the shooting had not been linked to anyone, like when Scott and Kylee’s house that was vandalised. The insults spray-painted on the walls were seen as random at first. The phrases ‘Fucking bitch slapper’ and ‘whore’ confronted Scott and Kylee when they came upon the ruins. With Scott murdered, investigators had to wonder if the vandalism was a targeted attack?

As the investigation progressed, a strong feeling emerged that Scott was killed by someone who knew him. Someone with intimate knowledge of his routine. His gate was always left open, so why was it closed on this particular day? The killer purposefully set a trap and laid in wait for Scott to get out of his car.

Police released photos of Scott and Kylee’s vandalised home, asking for witnesses to come forward. The hope was to find the culprits and to determine if they had anything to do with Scott’s murder. This line of inquiry led police straight to none other than Scott’s brother-in-law and business partner, Ewen Macdonald. The investigation uncovered a whole new side to Ewen, that only became known to the Guy family during his trial.

When police first questioned Ewen, he opened up and said that he thought Scott’s murder was perhaps a case of mistaken identity. He believed the killer was after him, because he had been poaching. It was a shock to learn that this upstanding farm manager and father of four had in fact been poaching stags from his neighbours.

With this information in hand, police were curious to learn more about Ewen Macdonald. On the morning of Scott’s murder, he had mentioned that Scott had been shot, while everyone else assumed he had been stabbed. How did he know?

Ewen was also known to wear the rubber-soled diving boots when he went camping or hunting. Police formed a theory that he was the one who stole the puppies to stage a burglary. He knew where they were and what they were worth. Then there was the motive: with Scott out of the way, he would be the sole manager of Byreburn – and most likely, the one who would be able to buy out Nikki and Callum’s shares.

Police searched Ewen and Anna’s house, specifically looking for size 9 diving boots, shotgun shells and even the bodies of the three Labrador puppies, but did not find anything. Despite the lack of physical evidence, Ewan Macdonald was arrested and charged with murdering his wife’s brother in April of 2011.

The case was well publicised and the whole of New Zealand watched as the trial revealed more details about what was going on within the bosom family who seemed to have it all.

The trial, held at Wellington High Court, started two years after the murder, which lead to loads of speculation by the media. Crowds lined up outside, hoping to see what was going on, and the public gallery held 100 people on any given day. Massey University Law professor Chris Gallavin reckoned the interest stemmed from the fact that the case involved ‘beautiful, affluent, white people’. It was like a true-life soap opera, taking place on the nation’s doorstep. Gallavin concluded that the case proved to the nation that…

“…their family dynamics are as messed up as anyone else… It’s a family tragedy about the prodigal son who comes back and says he should take over the farm while the person who has been slaving away and is a brilliant farmer feels put out.”

The Guy family did not read all that much into it. Bryan and Jo saw themselves as ordinary people who loved their children. They had lost their eldest son and somehow felt like the media was putting all of them under the microscope, looking for scandal and spice where there wasn’t any.

Crown Prosecutor argued that Bryan Guy had ‘the flaw of fairness’. He saw the dynamics between Scott and Ewen from a young age and knew he had to assign them each specific role. And when it came to ownership of the farm, the family had four children, not just Scott and Anna. That is why he divided the shares equally.

At the trial, Ewen Macdonald pleaded not guilty. Police officers testified and said Ewen gave his full co-operation when questioned. He seemed genuinely distraught in the wake of Scott’s murder and did what he could to assist in the early days of the investigation.

Andrew Short, a farmhand who worked with Scott and Ewen told the court about the hot-and-cold relationship between the brothers-in-law. Ewen allegedly complained that Scott was not pulling his weight workwise. The two of them were rather competitive, and always had to be one-up on the other. If one bought a new car, the other one went out and bought one too. However, no one thought it was extreme or out of the ordinary. Their rivalry was noticeable, but not dangerous. For the most part, everyone felt they liked each other despite their differences at work.

Crown Prosecutor Ben Vanderkolk alleged that when Scott outlined his demands at a family meeting, and stated intention to take over the family farm, it…

“…might as well have been his death warrant.”

Prosecution’s argument was that Ewen, brimming over with hatred for Scott, had planned the murder. On the morning of the shooting, he closed the farmgate, knowing it would force Scott to get out of his car. Then he laid in wait, armed with the farm shotgun, wearing his size 9 diving boots, and as soon as Scott climbed out of his car at 4:43, he shot him. Ewen then cycled the 1.46km to the dairy, where he oversaw the milking of the cows, starting at 5am. Vanderkolk argued that Ewen had taken the puppies to make the murder look like a robbery-gone-wrong.

A former farm worker, Callum Boe, who was employed by the Guy family came forward and shone a light on Ewen Macdonald’s darker side. According to Callum, he often joined Ewen on night hunts, or as Ewen called it ‘missions’. They would trespass and poach deer, burying the carcasses on the Guy family farm. If farmers caught them, they would return later to take their revenge, by harming livestock or destroying property. Callum told the court about one of the ‘missions’ in October 2008 during which they set a building on fire – the demountable house that Scott and Kylee had sold.

Callum Boe went on to confess that, in January 2009, it was the two of them who vandalised the building site of Scott and Kylee’s new home. They bashed through walls with a splitting axe and spray-painted profanities on the walls. This particular ‘mission’ raked up $14,000 in damages. The next day an anonymous note arrived in their mailbox, scribbled on a piece of paper, it read:

“Now you know how it feels to lose something you love.”

Ewen denied ever writing this note. Two posties said they also found other hate-fuelled notes addressed to Kylee, saying ‘You cheating whore, what goes around, comes around.’ Kylee claimed she never saw the notes, but two postal workers testified that they had seen it.

When Ewen was on remand, Anna asked him why he hated her brother so much, he said that he didn’t hate him. He only committed the arson and vandalism to have a bit of fun – and to annoy Scott.

Scott and Kylie never knew it was their brother-in-law who had damaged their property. When this came out in court, it was a terrible shock to Scott’s family. They knew Scott and Ewen had their disagreements, but never thought there was so much hatred at play. Ewen’s deep-seeded jealousy was laid bare, and it left scars that would never heal the relationship with his in-laws.

Ewen Macdonald’s defence lawyer, the highly regarded Greg King, pointed out some flaws in the prosecution’s case. Witnesses said they heard gunshots at 5am, not earlier. At 5am, Ewen was in the dairy. King also unpacked the shooting pattern, as described by witnesses. Four witnesses who lived nearby claimed that they heard three gunshots in short succession of each other. King brought a shooting expert from the United States to testify. He studied the farm shotgun and concluded that that particular weapon would have to be reloaded after two shots. It could not have fired three shots in short succession. According to the expert, a semi-automatic firearm was more than likely the murder weapon.

The footprint evidence became a much-contested issue during the trial. Forensic expert, David Neale, testified about the footprints found at the scene. There were more than 50 prints near Scott’s body – all made by a size 9 diving boot. King challenged this finding and claimed that the 33 rows of the wavy pattern came from a size 11 or 12 boot. Although Ewen had owned a pair of the same brand of boots, in a size 9, his wife Anna testified that he had thrown them away two years before Scott’s murder, when they moved to a new house. Later in the trial, Anna was called to testify again. She changed her earlier statement, saying she could not remember physically throwing it away, but only recalled the conversation she had with Ewen in which he told her he had disposed of it.

King also pointed out flaws in the investigation. Police failed to secure the scene and never took tyre marks for evidence. Witnesses saw a sedan on Aorangi Road that morning, but the investigation never identified the car or its driver.

Also, there was a burglar active in the area at the time, who had committed multiple crimes, stealing a shotgun on one break-in, yet he was never seen as a feasible suspect in Scott’s case. A packet of cigarettes found outside Scott’s house matched the brand the thief had stolen hours before – Winfield Cigarettes. The burglar’s partner, who was high on methamphetamine at the time, provided an alibi, and police did not pursue the lead any further.

Then there was an unidentified man who came looking for Scott at the house where he used to live. Dave Berry, Scott’s truckie neighbour, had moved in and recalled a tall, unkempt man with dark hair, smelling of alcohol and cigarettes banging on the door, asking to speak to Scott. Dave told the man he didn’t know where Scott moved to. This was a lie, of course, but Dave claimed the man seemed dangerous and he didn’t want to risk sending him over to Scott’s.

A farmhand took the witness stand in court and said that, the day before the funeral, someone had asked him who he thought killed Scott. He said:

“Scott Guy had pissed off a lot of people.”

Another farm worker was known to dislike Scott. In the past, he had called Scott ‘arrogant’ and a ‘daddy’s boy’. Incidentally, this man drove a sedan on the day of Scott’s shooting, and he turned up to work early – something that was quite unusual. He also owned a semi-automatic firearm and at the time of Scott’s death, he was home alone – his partner and sister had gone away for a couple of days. But did he dislike Scott to such a degree that he would end the young father’s life?

The trial wrapped up after four weeks. The jury returned after 11 hours’ deliberation and announced their findings: Ewan Macdonald was found not guilty.

When Kylee heard the verdict, she could not contain herself. She ran outside screaming:

‘He killed my husband!’

Although he was acquitted, Ewen Macdonald was not released and remained in custody, awaiting a sentencing date on other charges. These charges were related to Ewen and Callum Boe’s late night ‘missions’. Anna testified that Ewen’s friendship with Callum was immature and that she never knew what they did when they went out at night.

The most serious of these offences was committed in June 2007, when Ewen and Callum killed 19 calves belonging to a neighbour. The farmer had previously busted them poaching deer on his property and they decided to kill his livestock in an act of retribution. It was a brutal act, killing all of the calves by hitting them on their heads with a hammer. Ewen also started a fire in a warehouse on another farm, racking up more arson charges. Another farmer claimed he had emptied a tanker of milk, wasting thousands of dollars’ worth of milk.

In the end, Ewen was sentenced to five years for his menacing crimes. He was denied parole three times, and was released in November 2015, six months before the completion of his sentence.

The Guy family is not in touch with him anymore – although they do not believe he murdered Scott, they learnt about Ewen’s dark side and could not forgive him for what he had done. Anna split from Ewen and moved to Auckland with their four children. Scott’s father, Bryan Guy, said that the family believed justice had prevailed.

Scott’s wife Kylee moved to Hawke’s Bay with their two children. She fought hard to keep her boys out of the public eye. She hired a private investigator to look at Scott’s case with fresh eyes. The private investigator uncovered a series of mysterious phone calls made to Scott’s cell phone on the night before his murder. Kylee handed all the information to police and hope, that with continued pressure from her and the Guy family, they will follow up.

More than 10 years after the shooting, Scott’s family is still searching for answers. Little Drover never got to meet his dad, and Hunter only had him for a short time. After Ewen’s acquittal, no one else has been charged in this case. One can only hope that someone somewhere finds it within themselves to speak up and bring closure to this family, who has lost a beautiful soul.

If you’d like to read more about this case, have a look at the resources used for this episode in the show notes.

Also visit and like our Facebook Page at facebook.com/evidencelockerpodcast/” to see more about today’s case. If you like our podcast, please subscribe in Apple Podcast or wherever you are listening right now.

This was The Evidence Locker. Thank you for listening!

©2021 Evidence Locker Podcast

All rights reserved. This podcast or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a podcast review.